New York Rangers General Manager Glen Sather continued his streak of avoiding arbitration hearings when he signed center Derick Brassard to a five-year, $25 million contract Sunday.

Sather hasn’t gone to arbitration since 2009 with Nik Zherdev, when the Rangers walked away from Zherdev’s award and made him a free agent.

Brassard, 26, a restricted free agent, was scheduled for his hearing Monday. He was reportedly looking for a $4.95 million (one year) award while the Rangers’ offer was at $3.825 million.

Brassard gets more than his asking price, but the Rangers get five years of Brassard, who would have been eligible to be an unrestricted free agent next July.

Brassard will earn $7 million in 2014-15, $6 million in 2015-16; $5 million in 2016-17 and $3.5 million in each of the last two seasons, for an annual cap hit of $5 million.

The contract and cap hit look steep now, but in the latter portion of the deal it might be a bargain.

Brassard scored 18 goals and 45 points on the team’s most consistent line, centering Mats Zuccarello, who was re-signed for one year, and Benoit Pouliot, who bolted to Edmonton as a free agent. Brassard added 12 points in 23 playoff games.

The signing leaves the Rangers with only one restricted free agent unsigned, defenseman John Moore, who does not qualify for arbitration.

According to Capgeek.com, which counts Jesper Fast, Chris Mueller, Mike Kostka and Matt Hunwick as rostered players, but does not include J.T. Miller, the Rangers have 22 players under contract and $1.3 million in cap space left. Not all of those players will be on the roster opening night, so there is some wiggle room, perhaps as much as $4 million still available.

Rick Carpiniello writes for the (Westchester County, New York) Journal News.